Even the rumor mill missed this one: looks like Apple will debut a multitouch trackpad dubbed the Magic Trackpad at its developer conference later today. According to Engadget’s editor Joshua Topolsky, Steve Jobs will probably mention the new device during his keynote speech at 10 am Pacific Time, 1 pm Eastern Time.

Fake Steve Jobs first alluded to a new input device and John Gruber’s Daring Fireball corroborated the finding weeks ago. Following-up, Engadget has dug up blurry shots depicting what seems to be a flat aluminum surface with a conically shaped upper base, just like on Apple’s wireless keyboard. The publication says the new input device will communicate with desktop and notebook computers via Bluetooth. It’s Apple taking its multitouch technology one step further, Topolsky wrote:

The folks in Cupertino are making a play for finger-based input in a big way – taking the work they’ve done on Mac laptops and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and translating it to the desktop realm.

A person who tested the gizmo told Engadget that it supports handwriting recognition and “every feature you can find on a Magic Mouse (and possibly features of a MacBook Pro trackpad).” Nevertheless, it’s unknown how the device could assist users in interacting with a computer, but some sort of a comprehensive, system-wide support for a bunch of new multitouch gestures sounds reasonable.

We’ve seen evidence about this device all over the place. For starters, Apple has been patenting a bunch of new multitouch gestures that are guaranteed to find their way not just into new iPhones and iPads, but Macs and the stuff like this new Magic Trackpad. With multitouch iWork suite for iPad, Apple brought gesture-based interfaces to a larger form factor and proved that the software like word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation apps can be operated just with your fingers.

Our eagle-eyed readers could note that Apple actually got the Magic Trackpad as part of a 2006 FingerWorks acquisition, the company widely regarded as the inventor and developer of multitouch technology and multitouch input devices such as iGesture Pad. Finally, Apple trademarked the Magic Slate term, another indication they’ve been working on a specialized multitouch input device. Need more proof?